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Gov. Tim Walz has proven he's a champion for reproductive rights • Minnesota Reformer [1]

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Date: 2024-08-14

For nearly three decades, my life’s work has been advancing reproductive freedom. I have my mother to thank: a first wave women’s health nurse practitioner out of the old school. While working with college students and as a volunteer clinician at Planned Parenthood in Connecticut, my mother always put her patients first. Over the years, the waves of feminism changed but what mattered remained constant: the people.

For decades, Gov. Tim Walz has championed reproductive freedom for all. In Congress, he voted for the Affordable Care Act and co-sponsored bills that would have increased access to birth control; supported services for postpartum depression; improved maternal care; and limited medically unnecessary laws restricting abortion.

In his first term as governor, he signed the Dignity in Childbirth and Pregnancy Act to reduce disparities impacting mothers and babies.

When Roe fell, states across the nation began using their newfound power to ban abortion, taking away women’s ability to control their own bodies. Months later, Minnesotans made history by electing the state’s first pro-abortion rights trifecta into government, including re-electing Walz.

The trifecta got to work. Minnesota became the first state to codify abortion rights after the fall of Roe when Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act in January 2023.

We didn’t stop there. Over and over again our leaders put patients first. Minnesota has spent the past two years investing in families, children and health care access. We’ve protected fundamental rights while other states — including most of our neighbors — were decimating them. We’ve become a refuge for neighbors who are facing dangerous alternate realities.

This November, abortion is on the ballot again. That’s what happens when rights are taken away — it becomes a constant fight, year after year. A constant battle, even when a majority of Minnesotans and Americans agree: Private medical decisions should be made by a patient and their provider — not politicians.

Walz has proven he will fight for reproductive rights. And Vice President Kamala Harris is right there with him. She has been a fierce advocate for abortion rights. She proved so when she became the first sitting vice president to visit a health center that provides abortions, Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. Walz was right alongside her.

Harris and Walz are ready to engage new voters, disengaged voters, those who have been ignored — even those who have cats.

While the right to abortion in Minnesota is currently protected under Doe v. Gomez and the Protect Reproductive Options Act, those protections would be superseded by a national abortion ban. Former President Donald Trump, who has proudly taken credit for overturning Roe, and his allies have made it clear that they want to ban abortion nationwide and defund Planned Parenthood.

Every election matters locally, too. Minnesota Republicans have voted to ban abortion twice since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and are just a few votes away from being able to pass an abortion ban in our state. Re-electing an abortion rights trifecta would mean continued protections for Minnesotans’ freedom to make their own decisions about reproductive health care, including decisions about abortion, birth control and IVF.

We don’t need a crystal ball to know what a state or national abortion ban would do. We see the reality playing out in states across the nation. In states with abortion bans, infant mortality is on the rise, maternal mortality is on the rise, maternal care deserts are growing, and rates of sexually transmitted infections are increasing. These devastating realities harm communities who already face significant barriers to care the most — like Black, Indigenous, low-income, LGBT, immigrant and rural communities.

This November, we have the opportunity to build a better future — for Minnesotans and all Americans. One where everyone has access to essential health care, no matter your zip code, age, immigration status, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, or socioeconomic status. Under Walz, Minnesota has already started to lead the way.

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/08/14/heres-what-to-expect-on-reproductive-health-care-with-gov-tim-walz-on-the-ticket/

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